Chapter
Ten

Bi-Choice

Ranma was still in complete shock that Nakata Shiroi, Tokyo’s star
football player, was now sitting next to him. In the middle of the blazing
red nightclub known as “Red Dragon.” The small neon nightclub was now filling
up with young men, the cheesy techno music blaring louder and the red spotlights
flickered faster.

Nakata
was explaining to Ranma about the different types of men that linger at Club
Red Dragon. It was approximately 11 p.m. and the club was now filled to the
brim with men of different shapes and sizes. The red spotlights continued
to dance through the dark shadows in the background.

“You’ve got the debusen,” Nakata motioned to a group of lean
men surrounding an extremely large and tanned Japanese guy. The large man
just chortled at the attention. “There’s also the gaisen. They love
men in uniforms.” Ranma looked to his left and saw several tall Japanese men
in business suits as if they had just left work. They were all taking shots
of sake and laughing happily. “And of course,” Nakata added, “You have your
nyusen.” Several drag queens dressed in Japanese schoolgirl outfits
had started performing on the small stage, besides the bar and were singing
to Britney Spears’ “Baby One More Time” remixed. Ranma hadn’t realized
that this bar was so huge within the small Shinjuku-Nichome building. Within
the enclave, these men created a new world burning red with the lust of their
secret passions.

Ranma turned back to Nakata and smiled. “This is so amazing,” he said,
“And this happens every single night.” Ranma took another shot of hot sake.
He was starting to feel slightly tipsy. The red spotlights mixed with the
blue spotlights in Ranma’s eyes and the scenery was starting to

“You’re definitely a safa,” Nakata replied and blushed. Ranma
looked like a muscular Japanese surfer with his semi-long hair. He noticed
that Nakata had suddenly looked down into his bottle of beer with his cheeks
flushed a little bit red. He was pretty kawaii.

Nakata took another swig of his Asahi beer and toughened up
again. “So,” he said, “What are you into?”

Ranma looked into Nakata Shiroi’s dark black eyes and smirked. He couldn’t
believe he was going to say what he was about to say. “Gatchiri tampatsu
no chibi,” he replied in perfect Japanese. It was close enough to a description.

“That describes me perfectly,” Nakata smirked. “You’re not saying that
to impress me are you? You’re not really a gaisen.” Ranma had never
felt any attraction to Western men so he shook his head.

“Y’know,” Nakata said deeply. “ You’re the first guy whose actually
been nice to me. Most of these men are either looking for white guys to whisk
them off to America or worse, married.”

“Well,” Ranma said, “Actually, I’m married.”

Nakata laughed. “It figures,” he sighed and took a large swig of his
beer.

Ukyou got off the table and haphazardly starting throwing on her pants.
“I think I better go,” she muttered to Akane. Akane was still in shock. Her
brown eyes remained wide open as she nodded nervously to Ukyou. She was still
clenching the blanket tightly for dear life. There was nothing else left to
say.

“You know, Akane,” Ukyou told Akane as she quickly shoved her black
sports bra back on. She took a quick glance and shook her head frustratingly.
Akane knew exactly what she meant.

“I
am and I don’t deserve you,” she looked humbly down at the wool threads of
the blanket hoping she would attain Ukyou’s sympathy. She wouldn’t this time.

“That’s right,” Ukyou replied coldly, “you don’t deserve me. And I’m
sick of putting myself down to the point of thinking that I’m only good enough
for you.” She motioned to the dojo. “This is what you want and you got what
you wanted. But this is not what I want.”

“…and Ranma,” Ukyou completed Akane’s statement.
“And that’s the point!” Ukyou shouted at Akane. “I can’t give you what you
want if you don’t know what you want.” She paused and fought the tears
that were close to rolling off her eyes. “What else can I do to prove that
I love you and that you mean to me more than anyone in the world?”

“Here’s what I want,” Ukyou turned back to cowering girl in the blanket.
“I’m a woman who likes women. I’m a lesbian.” She paused at every single word
to give it exclusive meaning. “I-want-to-be-with-a-lesbian. And if you’re
not a lesbian, then you are not what I want!”

“I want my freedom,” Akane said finally. Ukyou sighed. “I can’t give
that to you,” she said quickly. “I…You’re going to figure this out on your
own, Aka-chan. I can’t wait around for you anymore.”

“I never asked you to,” Akane said coldly.

“FINE!” Ukyou threw her arms up in the air. She had finished
putting back on her black shirt. “Then mark my words, Miss Akane Tendo-Saotome,
this is the last time you will ever see me!” She quickly threw on her green
jacket and started to pack her okonomiyaki pack.

“Please don’t let it end like this,” Akane whispered pathetically.
Ukyou took one quick look at Akane. Sympathy was starting to well up in her
chestnut brown eyes. But this time, Ukyou threw her sympathy out of the dojo.
Then she threw Akane’s shirt at her and it slammed into Akane’s face. Akane
held her blanket tighter as she heard Ukyou slam the door behind her.

Nakata was telling Ranma how he found out he was gay. It was the game
against Osaka four months ago. He was in the male locker room taking a shower
after the game. He liked to wait until the rest of his teammates were done
taking showers before he would take his own. Even though he was the star player,
Nakata was pretty shy in meeting his own fans, especially the ditzy airheads
from his fan clubs. Eventually they would all leave and he would be able to
sneak out of the stadium through the back and join his fellow teammates at
some bar in Shinjuku.

This time, he wasn’t alone. A guy from the Osaka team had also chosen
to linger while his teammates were drinking their sorrows away. It took a
while for Nakata to realize that the guy was quietly touching his member while
making quick glances at Nakata. Without thinking, Nakata returned the favor
and smiled at Mr. Osaka. Mr. Osaka quickly turned left and right and made
sure that no one else was in the locker room. Then he walked up to Nakata
in his wet nakedness, a soft smile on his face as he started to touch Nakata.
After the sudden shock subsided, Nakata felt his own hands caressing Mr. Osaka’s
lean body as well.

They
proceeded to sneak into a small one-man shower stall where both of their heated
muscular bodies would have to press together. With the violent sounds of water
falling in the background, the two men rubbed each other to orgasm as they
passionately kissed each other. The echoes of dripping water drowned out their
quiet ecstsatic grunts. Ranma’s eyes opened wide as Nakata described everything
in lurid detail.

“I
found out that he got married to some girl in Nagasaki in the football magazine,”
Nakata sighed, “he was using me as his last chance to ever be with a man.”
Whether it was the sight of Nakata’s chiseled lips, his sensitive black eyes,
relaying that story, Ranma was starting to feel a strange kind of heat in
between his thighs. Something that he hadn’t felt for a long time.

Nakata
looked back at Ranma. His piercing eyes filled with curiousity. “Now that
I told you my tale,” he said eagerly. “It’s your turn. Tell me how you met
this Ryoga- person you keep talking about.”

Ranma
closed his eyes. He could feel the cool breeze touch his cheeks like a hard
slap on the face by a warm hand. “It was a clear autumn day,” he started
to tell Nakata as visions of a young man wearing a yellow-leopard bandana
re-emerged through the mists of his memory.

It was
a clear autumn day. My pop and I were always traveling. Something about making
me a man.* Eventually, my mom decided to drag my dad back because she wanted
me to grow up as a normal child. I started attending an all-boys school in
Nerima called the Shinoichi Junior High School, one of the rowdiest guy schools
in all of Tokyo. Every day seemed like a circus. But I somehow tamed my classmates
with my impressive martial arts skills. Being a man means forcing people to
respect you. And after my first and only fight, the guys respected me. School
became less chaotic and I was pretty popular among the guys.

So, I’m
walking home on a clear autumn day, watching the crisp leaves fall to the
ground. Nothing can go wrong. And then I hear a crash behind me. I turn around
and see three of my classmates pounding on another of my weaker classmates.
They are pushing his face into the mud. “You stupid faggot!” one of the guys
said. “This is the last time you’ll ever stare at me in the shower!” Kids
can be so cruel.

“Leave
him alone!” I growled at the other guys. They look up and realize that I could
beat them all up to a bloody pulp.“Fine,” shrugged one of the bullies. “Don’t
get into his business though. He is too weird.” They ran off across the street,
pressing their feet into the crisp leaves.

“Are you
okay?” I asked. I leaned over and reached out to the young boy. He was lying
face down in the mud. He was ashamed that he couldn’t fight back. Eventually,
he grabbed my hand and pulled himself up. And into my arms. After the first
moment of shock, I looked into his eyes. Hibiki Ryoga. His soft black eyes
carried a sense of mystery within them. And I was drawn to those eyes. And
his smile.

“Thanks,”
he muttered and turned away.

I continued
to walk down the street towards my home. As I continued my journey, I heard
a crunching of leaves behind me. I turned around and there he was. “Why are
you following me?” I asked him.

“I don’t
know how to find my way home,” he shrugged, “maybe you can help me.” I thought
it was stupid at first but then I realized that he had a horrible sense of
direction. Ryoga handed me a worn-out map. A shiny star stood in the middle
of this map of Tokyo. It was two blocks from where we were standing. Ryoga
started to turn around and head off in the wrong direction. Well, I did rescue
him. I grabbed his arm and he followed me to his house, which turned out to
be his mansion. Ryoga is rich.

“Ryoga!”
his mother called. She was very beautiful; especially with those mysterious
black eyes that Ryoga inherited. He wrapped his arms around her. “Thank you
for bringing back my son,” she told me. I felt good about myself for the first
time in my life.

“Will you
come in for some tea?” she asked me. “It is very cold outside.” I nodded and
she took my little hand as I entered her towering home. We passed through
several room and finally reached Ryoga’s kitchen with its wooden cupboard,
modern-day refrigerator and ivory table. Mrs. Hibiki placed a plate of rice
cookies on the table and poured me a cup of tea. I munched on the cookies,
feeling the crunchiness of the white Norbiko rice tinged with sugar and honey.

“How long
has he been missing?” I asked.

“About
three or four days,” she replied as she wiped her son’s dirty face with a
tissue paper. “Sometimes, he would be gone for weeks at a time. He has terrible
amnesia but he finds his way home. Ryoga looked down on the ground feeling
embarrassed. Ryoga’s complexion was slightly tanned from all of his travels
but as the mud started to come off, I could see the face of an attractive
young man. He looked at me shyly and then walked outside. I continued to stuff
my face with Mrs. Hibiki’s delicious rice cookies.

“I know
you live close by because I see you walk home from school,” Mrs. Hibiki said
quietly. “I leave for work early in the morning before Ryoga has to go to
school. I would appreciate it if you could be Ryoga’s escort from school and
back. I will pay you 10 yen every day to compensate. I just want to make sure
that he is taken care of, if that is okay.” Money was an enticing enough offer.

I walked
outside to Ryoga's backyard which was half the length of his house. His mother
planted many different kinds of flowers- chrysanthemums, azaleas, cherry blossoms,
. And there was Ryoga, lean and cute, frustratingly hitting a punching bag
in the middle of the lawn.

“I want
to be a strong martial artist someday,” Ryoga told me. “I’m sick of bullies
beating me up. Someday, I’ll be able to beat them up.” He punched the air
with a sense of sadness.

I looked
at Ryoga. "Actually," I told him, "My dad is the legendary
martial artist Genma Saotome of Anything-Goes Martial Arts." Ryoga gasped.
He knew my dad through all of the martial artist magazines. "You can
be my training partner if you want to." Ryoga faintly smiled and nodded.

I would
take Ryoga to school and walk him home. First, it shocked the teachers that
Ryoga was actually in class and on-time every day. Then we would walk back
to his house, do our homework and then practice our katas. Soon, the money
that Mrs. Hibiki offered and the cookies that she would bake for us was not
my main reason for seeing him. There was something else about him that drew
me to Ryoga. The innate sadness that surrounds him. When I looked into his
eyes, I felt all his melancholoy and loneliness. And yet, there was something
in there that made me want to know him better. That’s Ryoga for you. He draws
you into his mystery. He never talked about his father, who is supposedly
some wealthy merchant who left for America.

As we got
older, guys started to talk about us. Why were we so close to each other?
They called me Ryoga’s sempai. Of course, Ryoga didn’t turn down any of those
rumors. I had a feeling that he liked the attention. I had issues with the
taunting. I have never had sex with Ryoga…or any man. How could I be gay?
Kids can be so cruel.

I mentally
decided that I needed to distance myself from Ryoga as much as possible. It
was hard to do when I walked him home and he was always around me. Ryoga and
I were thirteen. He was starting to develop. His skinny arms became tight
little biceps. His ribbed chest became bulging pectorals and a tight waist
almost overnight. His face became more chiseled and angled and his fanged
smile almost made him look like a Japanese celebrity. His clothes fit him
a lot more and tighter around his lean body. I used to look at myself and
realize that I too was developing into them an I was going to become. Nakata
smiled and looked Ranma over. Ranma brushed him off and looked towards the
stars.

We still
wrestled like little kids but our strengths grew with our friendship. I could
definitely feel the force of his muscles in his arms and in mine as our kicks
and punches became fiercer. It was a dance of a love unmentioned. And at the
end of the match, Ryoga would quickly jump into my arms and press himself
on me as tight as possible. I tried to hide the almost immediate hardness
I felt when I saw him by tightening my thighs around his waist. My erections
freaked me out. Was I falling for him? I couldn’t…it would kill my father…and
then me too. How could I be a true man if I was not in love with a woman,
but with a man.

Unbeknownst
to me, both Mrs. Hibiki and my father were also cautious of our ‘playfulness’
and they hatched a plan to separate us. Pop decided to take me out of school
so I could focus on training and improving my manly martial arts skills in
China. I was excited about my chances to travel out of Japan. I was overjoyed
and excited. Ryoga had a different reaction.

I remember
it was a warm summer day when I left for China. Ryoga came wearing a small
yellow shirt that allowed my eyes to gaze upon his chiseled physique underneath
his clothing. His eyes expressed sympathy and sudden loneliness. I told him
that I had to leave Tokyo to become a man.

“I will
miss you,” Ryoga looked down sadly. His adorable smile turned into a frown.“Cheer up,” I told him. “You’ll make new friends and you’ll go on with
your life without me.”

Ryoga faintly
smiled. “I don’t know if I can,” he said. “You’re the first person who has
ever been so nice to me. You…you’re something Ranma Saotome…” He stumbled
with his words and then pummeled me to the ground. But it didn’t feel like
one of our regular sparring matches. Ryoga’s hands seemed much more furious
in holding onto me rather than letting me go. We both fell into the crisp
autumn leaves. Ryoga was on top of me. His face was so close to mine that
I could feel his warm breath. His face was so close to mine that I could feel
his warm breath. His piercing eyes loomed over me like a hawk.

And then
he kissed me. Just lightly on the lips. How was I supposed to know that I’m
not supposed to do something like that? He raised his head back with a small
smile and his fangs were glistening. Then on instinct, I knew that it was
wrong. I quickly shoved Ryoga off me and ran home.

Nakata’s
eyes had perked up with the thought of another guy kissing Ranma. Ranma decided
not to tell the rest of the story to Nakata. It was too painful for him to
tell that part of the story. He would not tell the rest of the story to Nakata.
It was too painful for him to tell that part of the story. He would not tell
Nakata about how Ryoga followed him to Chin, how Ryoga discovered Ranma’s
other fiancés, how his fierce love for Ranma turned to fierce jealousy and
pure rage. He would never tell Nakata how he broke Ryoga’s heart by marrying
his wife Akane Tendo. Instead, he pined for the equally attractive Nakata’s
sympathy.

“So,
he did kiss you?” Nakata asked, trying to hold back his own eagerness. Ranma
nodded. “How?” Nakata saw that his chance had opened up and he was going to
take the risk. Ranma looked into Nakata’s yearning eyes. He held Nakata really
close. He could sense Nakata’s warm breath on his cheek. He looked up at Nakata
and closed his eyes.

“Like
this.” They touched lips. Just as Ryoga had touched his lips some time ago.
But Nakata didn’t stop. His hand was behind Ranma’s head, pushing his head
closer to him. Ranma felt his hand drawing behind Nakata’s oft black hair.
It was so soft. He felt around Nakata’s prickly stubble on his face. Their
lips continued to touch each other. Ranma’s heart pounded faster than it ever
had before. Ranma searched deep intoh his psyche. One side wanted him to pull
out, flashing red lights and screaming “No! No! This is all wrong!”
But the other side liked this control. This desperate
sense of control, as if he was going to evaporate if Nakata let him go. This
time, he wouldn’t fight back. And this time, it wasn’t so bad. Nakata was
very experienced and the kiss was…nice.

Eventually,
Nakata drew back and held Ranma tightly. “I have an apartment two blocks from
here,” he told Ranma quietly. “If you would like to spend the night…” Ranma
pulled back. “I…I…can’t,” he looked up at Nakata. “I have a wife and we’re
leaving for San Francisco tomorrow.”

Nakata
frowned. “Why San Francisco?”

“My
sister is getting married,” he replied quickly. “She lives in the United States.”
Nakata nodded. “Since you’re in San Francisco,” he said, “make sure you stop
in this gay district. I would love to move to America someday.”

“What’s
so good about America?” Ranma shrugged. “It’s just another country.”

Nakata
looked up at the stars. “Because it’s so free,” he said. “You can be whoever
you want and love whoever you want in America. It’s such a great thought.
I’ve been watching this American show called Queer As Folk from
some friends. It was amazing. There was a gay paradise, this gay mecca where
men who love each other live blissful normal lives. They no longer have to
hide in the neon shadows that we do. The biggest mecca is San Francisco in
the place they call Casitiro.” Nakata’s
Japanese accent was really cute.

“Well,”
Ranma laughed. “I’ll keep an eye out for this gay mecca that you speak of
and pay pilgrimage to it.”

Nakata
turned back to Ranma with a sense of franticness. “When you come back to tell
your tales,” he said. “You know where to find me.” He wrote his phone number
down on a sheet of paper and handed it to Ranma. He gave Ranma a swift peck
on the cheek and then walked back into the neon mist.

After
a long bullet train ride back home to Nerima in the middle of the night, Ranma
fumbled with the key to his house and walked into the dojo. He crept into
his bedroom. Alert, Ranma’s wife woke up. Akane was clutching a sharp dagger.
The blade was shining.

Ranma
shrugged wearily. “I won’t fight you,” he said. “I just want to go to sleep
if that is okay.” He curled up into a ball underneath thefuton and fell asleep.
Akane stayed up all night looking up at the pure white ceiling with the lonely
sound of the ticking alarm clock to comfort her.

In the original
Ranma ½, Ranma’s father Genma Saotome signs a contract with his wife
Nodoka Saotome that he will train his son to become a man, otherwise they
will both commit suicide. Ranma was very young when he signed this contract
unwarily. This leads to hilarity as Ranma tries to cover up his aquatranssexual
curse in the series from his mother, who always has a sword with her.

This chapter is
dedicated to RRYaoi, a great yaoi archive whose stories about Ryoga and Ranma’s
secret relationships motivated the creation of this novel.